Poor Samsung says profits down

It is starting to look like the saturated smartphone market is taking a chunk out of Samsung. The outfit has warned its investors that the its balance sheet "doesn't look too good".

While it had previously suggested that profits for fiscal year Q2 would be down year-on-year, it is starting to look like things are much worse. The blame is being put on the lack of success of the Samsung Galaxy S5. The flagship phone shipped 11 million units in just a month, many believe that, in the face of stiff competition from HTC, LG and Sony it did not actually sell enough of them.

Korean brokerage firm KTB Investment & Securities also blames weak demand for Samsung's mid-to-low end smartphones in emerging markets, another area in which rivals, such Nokia have been doing better. What is interesting is if this will have knock on effect for Apple, which is also facing the same problems.